A  Declaration  of  Ideals  and  Policy 
Looking  Toward  a  Warless  World 

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A  Program  Adopted  by  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America 

by  action  of  the  Executive  Committee 
December  1 6,  1921 


THE  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America  records  on  behalf  of 
the  churches  their  solemn  and  reverent  thanksgiving  to  God  for  the  Conference  on  Limi¬ 
tation  of  Armament.  In  it  we  recognize  His  answer  to  the  fervent  prayers  of  millions 
of  Christians  throughout  this  and  many  other  lands. 

We  rejoice  in  the  splendid  achievements  of  the  Conference  already  secured.  They  are,  how¬ 
ever,  but  the  first  steps  toward  a  warless  world.  We  must  press  forward  toward  the  goal  which 
the  Prince  of  Peace  Himself  has  set  before  us.  With  a  view  to  that  goal,  it  is  fitting  that  we 
should  at  this  time  make  the  following  declaration: 


We  realize  that  as  churches  it  is  not  for  us  to 
define  in  detail  the  political  methods  and  institutions 
by  which  the  scourge  of  war  shall  be  banished  for¬ 
ever  from  civilized  and  Christian  nations.  The  de¬ 
termination  of  such  details  must  be  left  to  statesmen, 
jurists  and  legislators. 

But  we  maintain  with  firm  conviction  that  it  is  the 
right  and  the  duty  of  the  churches  to  declare  in  no 
doubtful  terms  the  moral  principles  that  are  involved 
in  international  life,  and  to  insist  that  our  lawmakers 
and  all  those  who  represent  our  nation  in  its  inter¬ 
national  relations,  shall  observe  these  principles  with 
utmost  care.  We  insist  that  the  main  issue  shall  be 
neither  evaded  nor  obscured  by  discussion  of  details. 

We  hold  that  the  moral  principles  of  international 
life  are  the  most  important  of  all  the  so-called  “vital 
interests”  of  every  nation.  They  are  of  such  conse¬ 
quence  to  the  life  of  churches  and  nations  that  evei'3r 
congregation  of  every  church  in  every  land  should 
co-operate  for  their  realization.  The  World  War 
was  won  only  by  international  unity  of  purpose  and 
action.  A  Warless  World  can  be  achieved  only  by 
like  unity  of  millions  of  peace-makers. 

We  recognize  with  deep  satisfaction  the  new  spirit 
of  unity  and  mutual  consideration  that  has  sprung 
up  between  the  nations  represented  at  the  confer¬ 
ence.  This  spirit  we  regard  as  of  greater  impor¬ 
tance  and  as  giving  more  hope  for  the  future  than 
any  of  the  specific  agreements. 


The  Conference  on  Limitation  of  Armament  has 
indeed  made  a  good  beginning.  We  deeply  rejoice  in 
the  agreements  for  a  radical  reduction  of  navies,  for 
the  ten-year  naval  holiday,  for  the  ten-year  four- 
power  agreement  to  maintain  peace  in  the  Pacific, 
and  for  the  steps  taken  looking  toward  a  real  solu¬ 
tion  of  China’s  pressing  problems. 

But  as  a  nation  we  must  press  on  to  matters  of 
still  greater  importance  and  still  more  serious  diffi¬ 
culty.  Capital  ships  have  largely  lost  their  signi¬ 
ficance.  Provision  has  not  yet  been  made  for  the 
general  reduction  of  land  armament.  Chemical  and 
aeroplane  and  submarine  warfare  threatens  the 
world.  These  new  weapons  have  created  new  prob¬ 
lems  for  the  entire  world  of  the  gravest  character. 
How  can  they  be  abolished,  or  even  limited,  so  long 
as  war  and  preparation  for  war  are  recognized  as 
legitimate  methods  by  which  civilized  peoples  may 
seek  to  secure  their  national  objectives?  War  itself 
must  be  outlawed. 

We  believe  there  is  one  way  and  only  one  way  to 
outlaw  Avar.  We  must  first  establish  a  peace  system. 
Mere  disarmament  by  itself  alone  will  not  stop  war. 
Only  the  firm  establishment  of  the  institutions  and 
agencies  of  justice  and  of  liberty  under  law,  main¬ 
tained  by  effective  sanctions  at  the  hands  of  laAv- 
abiding  and  peace-loving  nations,  can  possibly 
banish  war  from  this  war-cursed  world.  The  most 
urgent  need  of  mankind  today  is  the  speedy  estab¬ 
lishment  of  international  institutions  to  assure  equal 


justice,  full  security  and  fair  economic  opportunity 
for  all  nations  alike.  These  are  essential  pre-requi¬ 
sites  to  permanent  peace. 

We  believe  that  the  United  States  has  moral  obli¬ 
gations  to  the  nations  of  Europe.  Neither  France 
nor  any  other  nation  should  ever  be  exposed  to  the 
wrong  and  the  tragedy  of  invasion.  We  believe  that 
adequate  protection  can  be  given  to  nations  only  by 
effective  international  guarantees. 

We  believe  that  peculiar  duties  and  responsibilities 
rest  upon  Christians  in  this  and  all  other  lands  for 


I.  International  Ideals 

1.  WE  BELIEVE  that  nations  no  less  than 
individuals  are  subject  to  God  s  immutable 
moral  laws. 

2.  WE  BELIEVE  that  nations  achieve  true 
welfare,  greatness  and  honor  only  through 
just  dealing  and  unselfish  service. 

3.  WE  BELIEVE  that  nations  that  regard 
themselves  as  Christian  have  special  in¬ 
ternational  obligations. 

4.  WE  BELIEVE  that  the  spirit  of  Christian 
brotherliness  can  remove  every  unjust 
barrier  of  trade,  color,  creed  and  race. 

5.  WE  BELIEVE  that  CHRISTIAN  patri¬ 
otism  demands  the  practice  of  good-will 
between  nations. 


the  establishment  of  the  institutions  of  peace.  It  is 
for  Christian  pastors  and  preachers  everywhere  to 
teach  these  truths  to  the  people  and  through  the 
Grace  of  God  to  create  that  heart  and  that  will  in 
each  nation,  without  which  disarmament  is  only  a 
beautiful  rainbow  in  the  sky  and  a  warless  world  is 
impossible. 

In  the  light  of  these  considerations,  the  Federal 
Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America  adopts 
for  itself  and  recommends  to  the  churches  the  fol¬ 
lowing  statement  of  ideals,  of  policy  and  of  program : 

of  the  Churches  of  Christ 

6.  WE  BELIEVE  that  international  policies 
should  secure  equal  justice  for  all  races. 

7.  WE  BELIEVE  that  all  nations  should  as¬ 
sociate  themselves  permanently  for  world 
peace  and  good-will. 

8.  WE  BELIEVE  m  international  law,  and 
in  the  universal  use  ox  international  courts 
of  justice  and  boards  of  arbitration. 

9.  WE  BELIbVU  m  a  sweeping  reduction  of 
armaments  by  all  nations. 

10.  WE  BELIEVE  in  a  warless  world,  and 
dedicate  ourselves  to  its  achievement. 


II.  The  Obligation  of  America  to  Cooperate  in  the 
Establishment  of  a  World  Peace  System 

1.  We  believe  that  the  government  of  the  United  States  should  associate  itself  promptly  with  the  other 
nations  of  the  world  to  establish  permanent  institutions  for  the  formulation  of  international  law,  for  the 
effective  operation  of  the  International  Court  of  Justice  and  of  boards  of  arbitration  and  conciliation,  for 
the  assurance  to  law-abiding  and  peace-loving  nations  of  security  from  attack  and  spoliation  by  any  lawless 
and  aggressive  nation,  and  for  the  provision  of  fair  treatment  and  equal  economic  opportunity  to  all. 

2.  We  believe  that  only  by  these  institutions  and  agencies  will  it  be  possible  and  practicable  to  abolish 
the  menace  to  the  entire  human  race  of  submarines,  of  aeroplanes,  and  of  poison  gases. 

3.  We  believe,  further,  that  the  reconstruction  of  the  shattered  institutions  of  production,  of  exchange, 
of  trade,  and  of  credit,  all  so  essential  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  nations,  is  possible  only  when  the 
feverish  fears  and  preparations  for  possible  war  are  completely  abandoned  because  of  the  successful  function¬ 
ing  of  the  institutions  of  an  effective  world  peace  system. 

4.  We  take  the  above  stand  remembering: 

a.  That  practically  every  important  nation  in  the  world  has  committed  itself  to  the  idea  of  a  perma¬ 
nent  organization  of  the  nations  for  world  peace,  and  many  of  them  have  associated  themselves  in 
a  League  of  Nations  for  that  purpose. 


b.  That  President  Harding  has  repeatedly  committed  himself  and  his  administration  to  a  permanent 
association  of  the  nations  for  world  peace,  renewed  in  his  recent  address  at  the  opening  of  the 
Washington  Conference  in  the  memorable  words  that  the  United  States  co-operating  with  other 
nations,  desires  “to  do  that  nobler  thing  which  no  nation  can  do  alone.” 

5.  We  believe  that  the  time  has  come  for  American  public  opinion  to  express  unmistakably  to  Congress 
its  emphatic  support  of  President  Harding  and  of  the  Administration  in  making  adequate  pledges  and  in 
giving  satisfactory  guarantees  that  the  United  States  will  take  its  full  share  of  responsibility  in  interna¬ 
tional  tasks  and  obligations. 

6.  We  reject  with  indignation  a  policy  of  taking  all  possible  economic  advantages  in  all  parts  of  the 
world  while  shirking  international  responsibilities  and  obligations. 

7.  We  advocate  the  foregoing  policy,  remembering  the  numerous  actions  of  the  Federal  Council  from  its 
very  inception  in  1905,  and  repeated  at  practically  every  annual  meeting  since,  urging  the  creation  of  a  per¬ 
manent  organization  of  the  nations  for  world  peace,  which  policy  has  also  been  repeatedly  expressed  in  num¬ 
berless  actions  of  our  constituent  bodies  during  the  past  decade. 


III.  America’s  Obligations  to  Single  Nations 


1.  To  Armenian  and  Greek  Christians: 

In  view  of  the  tragic  conditions  of  Armenian  and 
Greek  Christians  under  cruel  and  murderous  rulers, 
and  of  numerous  appeals  to  America  for  political 
protection  and  philanthropic  help ;  and  in  view  of  the 
proposal  in  Congress  that  President  Harding  take 
up  with  Great  Britain,  France  and  Italy  the  ques¬ 
tion  of  dealing  effectively  with  the  Turkish  maltreat¬ 
ment  of  Christian  subjects. 

We  urge  the  churches  of  America  to  exert  every 
possible  influence: 

(1)  To  secure  immediate  active  measures  by  our 
government  for  the  protection  of  Christians  under 
Turkish  rule. 

(2)  To  provide  contributions  needful  for  the 
physical  wants  of  those  threatened  with  starvation 
in  the  Near  East. 

(3)  To  promote  a  National  Service  of  Prayer  in 
all  our  churches  until  permanent  protection  is  se¬ 
cured  for  Christians  under  Turkish  rule. 

2.  To  Russia: 

Because  of  the  fearful  famine  in  Russia  and  in 
response  to  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Hoover,  approved  by 


President  Harding,  we  urge  the  churches  and  Chris¬ 
tians  of  America  to  make  generous  and  early  re¬ 
sponse  to  the  pitiful  calls  from  Russia  for  gifts  of 
food,  clothing  and  medicine. 

This,  however,  is  a  case  in  which  private  philan¬ 
thropy  is  wholly  inadequate.  We  therefore  earnest¬ 
ly  urge  Congress  to  take  the  necessary  action  by 
which  the  United  States  as  a  nation  may  become  a 
good  Samaritan. 

3.  To  Austria: 

Austria  incurred  a  debt  to  the  United  States  im¬ 
mediately  after  the  Armistice  of  $24,000,000  for  the 
purchase  of  food  in  America.  One  step  immediately 
pressing  for  saving  Austria  from  complete  dissolu¬ 
tion  appears  to  be  at  least  an  extension  of  time  for 
the  payment  of  her  international  debts.  The  nations 
of  Europe  have  consented  to  a  twenty-year  delay  in 
her  debt  payments  provided  America  will  do  the 
same. 

We  therefore  urge  that  our  government  unite  a^ 
once  with  the  other  nations  for  helping  Austria  by 
such  methods  as  shall  save  this  suffering  nation. 


IV.  America’s  Obligations  to  Her  Associates 

in  the  Late  War 


In  view  of  the  enormous  losses  of  life  and  prop¬ 
erty  incurred  by  the  nations  associated  with  the 
United  States  in  the  late  war,  during  the  period 
when  the  United  States  was  preparing  to  do  her 
part ;  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  sums  loaned  to 
them  by  the  United  States  were  expended  in  this 
country  for  food  and  ammunition  by  which  they  were 
enabled  to  continue  the  struggle  until  America  was 
duly  equipped. 


We  believe  that  under  suitable  conditions,  each 
case  being  handled  by  itself,  the  dictates  of  justice 
and  the  principles  of  economic  law  require  that  the 
United  States  should  consider  and  adopt  some  suit¬ 
able  adjustment  of  these  debts  of  the  nations  to  the 
United  States  in  order  that  they  shall  be  as  far  as 
possible  relieved  from  their  economic  difficulties. 


V,  America’s  Obligations  to  Aid  in  the  Economic 

Recovery  of  the  World 


Because  of  the  World  War  the  United  States  be¬ 
came  in  a  moment  of  time  the  most  powerful  and  the 
richest  of  all  the  nations.  But  power  and  wealth 
bring  special  opportunities  and  responsibilities.  The 
recovery  of  economic  ..sta  bility  by  the  nations  of  the 
world  and  especially  of  Europe  depends,  we  are  as¬ 
sured,  largely  on  what  America  does  or  fails  to  do. 


We  therefore  ask  that  the  United  States  unite  in 
an  economic  conference  of  the  leading  nations  to  do 
in  the  realm  of  industry  and  finance  what  has  been 
so  well  done  by  the  Washington  Conference  in  the 
realm  of  political  understanding  and  in  the  reduc¬ 
tion  of  armaments. 


VL  America’s  Obligations  to  Germany 


If  American  Christians  are  earnest  in  their  desire 
to  have  a  Christian  world  order,  a  peace  system  to 
take  the  place  of  the  old  war  system,  we  must  our¬ 
selves  have  a  Christian  spirit  toward  the  peoples  of 
every  land. 

The  Christians  and  Churches  of  America  should 
enter  into  the  fullest  possible  fraternal  relations  with 
our  Christian  brethren  in  Germany,  as  Christians  de¬ 


termined  to  join  in  rebuilding  our  shattered  world 
on  new  and  better  foundations. 

We  recommend,  accordingly,  that  the  Adminis¬ 
trative  Committee  be  authorized  to  prepare  a  suit¬ 
able  communication  to  the  Churches  and  Christians 
of  Germany  on  behalf  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the 
Churches  of  Christ  in  America,  expressing  our  desire 
for  renewed  friendship  and  co-operation  in  our  com¬ 
mon  task. 


VII.  America’s  Treaty  Obligations 


In  International  Relations  nothing  is  more  impor¬ 
tant  than  scrupulous  observance  of  treaty  obliga¬ 
tions. 

We  insist  that  the  terms  of  our  treaties  should  be 
faithfully  and  honorably  observed.  If  the  treaties 
are  not  satisfactory,  new  treaties  should  be  adopted. 


We  condemn  all  proposals  to  change  or  annul  exist¬ 
ing  treaties  by  mere  Congressional  legislation.  These 
principles  should  be  applied  to  proposals  regarding 
the  use  of  the  Panama  Canal,  to  our  dealings  with 
Chinese  in  the  United  States,  and  to  all  similar 
questions. 


VIII.  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 


in  view  of  the  proposals  of  the  British  Govern¬ 
ment  to  solve  the  Irish  question  by  the  magnanimous 
^establishment  of  a  dominion  form  of  Government,  we 
recommend  that  the  Administrative  Committee  of  the 


Federal  Council  be  requested  to  send  as  soon  as  the 
Act  has  been  ratified,  cablegrams  of  congratulation 
to  Prime  Minister  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  and  to  the  offi¬ 
cial  head  of  the  new  Irish  Government. 


IX.  The  Duty  of  the  Churches 


To  carry  out  effectively  the  practical  international 
program,  sketched  in  the  foregoing  sections,  we  urge: 

1.  That  each  constituent  body  of  the  Federal 
Council  establish  its  own  official  Committee  on  In¬ 
ternational  Justice  and  Goodwill  for  co-operation 
with  this  Commission  of  the  Federal  Council. 

2.  That  each  City  Federation  of  Churches  estab¬ 
lish  its  department  of  International  Justice  and 
Goodwill  for  similar  co-operation. 

3.  That  Theological  Schools  and  Seminaries  be 
urged  by  their  denominational  authorities  to  provide 
adequate  courses  for  their  students  in  international 
problems  and  their  solution  as  essential  parts  of  their 


theological  instruction,  and  to  open  special  short 
courses  for  laymen,  equipping  them  for  public  work 
in  the  new  realm  of  endeavor  for  establishing  the 
Kingdom  of  God  on  Earth  as  it  is  in  Heaven. 

That  all  organizations  within  or  affiliated  with  the 
Churches  be  requested  earnestly  to  promote  the  use 
of  suitable  study  courses  on  the  Kingdom  of  God  in 
international  relations. 

That  the  Administrative  Committee  provide  in  due 
time  for  strong  committees  of  American  Christians 
to  visit  Christian  leaders  and  groups  in  all  lands  to 
set  forth  the  imperative  need  of  international  Chris¬ 
tian  co-operation  in  the  establishment  of  adequate  in¬ 
stitutions  of  peace  for  the  whole  world. 


Additional  copies  of  this  pamphlet  may  be  obtained  from 
The  Federal  Council  of  Churches  of  Christ  in  America 
105  East  22nd  Street,  New  York  City 


